Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

For generations, Monopoly has been America's favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and — for better or worse — the impulses that make our free-market society tick. But behind the myth of the game's creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. Contrary to the folksy legend spread by Parker Brothers, Monopoly's secret history is a surprising saga that features a radical feminist, a community of Quakers in Atlantic City, America's greatest game company, and an unemployed Depression-era engineer. And the real story behind the creation of the game might never have come to light if it weren't for the determination of an economics professor and impassioned anti-monopolist.

Back one million years ago, South America was a continent of exotic oversized creatures found nowhere else on Earth - huge terror birds, giant ground sloths and spiky-tailed relatives of the armadillo as big as cars. The deadliest animal of them all was smilodon, the largest of the sabre-tooth cats, with canines like carving knives. The programme follows the fortunes of an individual male, Half Tooth. Ousted from his clan by a pair of rival males, his life suddenly becomes a struggle to survive in this alien world.

Award winning wildlife photographers Jonathan and Angela Scott have travelled the world, always returning home to Kenya. There they introduced the world to the big cats of the Maasai Mara and now they are part of its fight for survival.

Construction of the famous Basilica in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudi, was started in 1882. To this day, it has not been completed. The architecture is one of such creative madness, originality, and fantasy, that it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. After years of piecing back together Gaudi’s master plan with advancements in computer technology and design, architects have been able to pursue the building, started 140 years ago. However, as construction progresses, some of its greatest challenges have yet to be surmounted, including the construction of 10 more spires. The team hopes to complete the masterpiece by 2026, Gaudi’s 100 year anniversary.
This film documents the complexities of respecting the original inspiration and techniques set forth by Gaudi over a century ago. Juxtaposing sequences shot in the midst of the cathedral as construction ensues, with reenactments and CGI images, the documentary draws you into Gaudi’s paradise on earth, from the origins of its inspiration to the most recent architectural additions.

Northern Africa is home to the greatest desert on Earth, the Sahara. On the fringes, huge zebras battle over dwindling resources and naked mole rats avoid the heat by living a bizarre underground existence. Within the desert, where the sand dunes 'sing', camels seek out water with the help of their herders and tiny swallows navigate across thousands of square miles to find a solitary oasis. This is a story of an apocalypse and how, when nature is overrun, some are forced to flee, some endure, but a few seize the opportunity to establish a new order.

In 1983, the world watched in awe as an astronaut shattered the final frontier of gender. But beyond the headlines and historic liftoff lay a hidden universe of love and struggle. For nearly three decades, a secret bond flourished between two brilliant women determined to protect their truth from a society not yet ready to embrace it. Through intimate interviews, never-before-seen archives, and the candid voice of her lifelong partner, this documentary reveals the untold story of devotion, sacrifice, and quiet revolution behind an icon who inspired millions.